Lighting to Make a Home More Comfortable when You Turn 45

Universal/accessible design of the home from an occupational therapy and a construction perspective. This blog is part of a quest for cool, convenient, functional design that makes life safer, easier, and as maintenance-free as possible. It's about the lifestyle.

Senior citizens have specific lighting needs. Here’s what you need to know to cater to this niche properly.

One of the most-talked-about seminars at the recent 2012 ALA Conference was Lighting for Senior Living:
New Ideas for a Growing Market, which featured Eunice Noell-Waggoner,
president of the Center of Design for an Aging Society; Naomi J. Miller,
FIES, FIALD, LC, and senior lighting engineer at Pacific Northwest
National Laboratories; Fred Oberkircher, FIESNA, Educational IALD, IDA,
LC, and the Philips DayBrite Ambassador for Lighting Education; and
Terry McGowan, FIES, LC’s the ALA’s director of engineering &
technology.

“Our eyes change as we age,” explained Noell-Waggoner. “As we [get
older], we need a different quality of light as less light reaches the
retina. There is also an increased sensitivity to glare. We really have
to be in control of that: how can we [achieve] high light levels without
glare.” The aging eye also adapts much more slowly to changes in light
levels, such as going from a bright space to dark and vice versa. In
addition, there are eye diseases that occur as people age such as
cataracts, glaucoma, and macular degeneration.

“Falls and fractures increase 200 percent in people over age 60 and
that can be a complication of age-related vision loss,” Noell-Waggoner
stated. “There is a loss of contrast sensitivity and a reduced ability
to see fine detail. Therefore, you must give them an even light level.”
In daylight, many homes have plenty of light; however, when the sun
goes down, the amount of lighting in a room must go up. “I find that
often three table lamps are needed in a living room,” Noell-Waggoner
noted. “Not everyone wants their living room to look like a lighting
showroom,” she joked, adding that round ceiling fixtures and pendants
are another way besides table lamps to pump up the amount of light in a
room. “I like to see close-to-ceiling indirect light sources,” she
said.
Naomi Miller has found that LED-powered lamps and fixtures could be a
helpful solution to the aging population. “Older people lose some
dexterity and can hurt themselves,” she explained. “Halogen bulbs get
hot, while LED is only 1/5 of the temperature and could reduce the
instances of some burns in the home.” However, to eliminate the
possibility of glare, it’s important to block any direct view of the
LED. “You can do this by using baffles, louvers, lenses, reflectors or
lampshades,” she stated. “What’s important is to minimize the
‘brightness’ of the light source.”
When it comes to task lighting, placement is crucial. “You want the
light to be on the task,” Miller explained. “If they’re reading, it
should be on the book. If they’re at the dining table, it should be on
the plates and utensils. Doing this will improve visibility immensely –
and this especially true where safety is concerned such as chopping
onions at the kitchen counter. The elderly also tend to do a lot of
hobbies, such as knitting and woodworking.” She suggests 50 to 100
footcandles or more in the task area, depending on the activity
performed, and that the illumination should be very even.
Miller also pays attention to circadian health and how those natural
rhythms affect people’s feelings of well-being. She advised having
higher blue light levels during the morning hours (5000K or 10000K
measured at the eye) and then having it dimmed down in the afternoon to
about 3000-4000K at the eye. “From 6pm to 9pm, have reduced light levels
that are more like incandescent,” she said. “From 10pm to 6am, it
should be very low light output with amber or reddish light that is
‹2200K.” Miller suggested having a photosensor built into a night-light
that shuts off automatically when the room lighting is switched on. The
light level should be low enough that it does not disturb melatonin
levels, and the physical light should be located low, bouncing the light
off the floor (to see a path) rather than being at hip height or
higher.
Terry McGowan mentioned that approaching active adult and elderly
communities could translate into a new revenue stream for your store.
“I’ve visited some of these facilities and I’d give them a C or a D
grade in the quality of the lighting. I was not impressed. There is
enormous opportunity here,” he said.
Fred Oberkircher agreed, adding that a duplex outlet is another way
to provide flexible lighting. “The Clapper was a great solution for the
elderly because they didn’t have to read a manual to learn how to
operate it. They just plugged it into the outlet, plugged the lamp in,
clapped twice and they’re [done],” he remarked. “Wattstopper has an
occupancy sensor plug-in strip which is great for people with
Alzheimer’s or dementia who enter and leave a room without turning
anything off,” he added. “My parents have moved into a home that is more
sophisticated than they are, and I’ve found that they sort of move
around the issues – usually by buying and installing another device
themselves. We can’t control the amount of technology in our world, but
we can control how it’s organized.”
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Characteristics of Good Lighting for Aging Vision
• Uniform ambient lighting (including hallways)
• Fixtures should conceal the bulbs/tubes from view
• Layers of light
• Good color rendering
• Task lighting should have a high light level and be adjustable in position and light levels
• Avoid light sources that give glare (i.e. halogen)